Data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which explored Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule earlier this week, is yielding scientific discoveries daily.

"The first exploration of a small Kuiper Belt object and the most distant exploration of any world in history is now history, but almost all of the data analysis lies in the future," said Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Data transmission from New Horizons will pause for about a week while the spacecraft passes behind the sun as seen from here on Earth. Data transmission resumes Jan. 10, starting a 20-month download of the spacecraft's remaining scientific treasures.

"Those of us on the science team can't wait to begin to start digging into that treasure trove," said Stern.

New Horizons completed the farthest flyby in history when it came within about 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of Ultima Thule at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, zooming past the object at more than 32,000 miles (51,000 kilometers) per hour.

Among the findings made by the mission science team in the past day are:

+ Initial data analysis has found no evidence of rings or satellites larger than one mile in diameter orbiting Ultima Thule.

+ Data analysis has also not yet found any evidence of an atmosphere.

+ The color of Ultima Thule matches the color of similar worlds in the Kuiper Belt, as determined by telescopic measurements.

+ The two lobes of Ultima Thule - the first Kuiper Belt contact binary visited - are nearly identical in color. This matches what we know about binary systems which haven't come into contact with each other, but rather orbit around a shared point of gravity.

Related Links
New Horizons
The million outer planets of a star called Sol

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The PI's Perspective: Anticipation on Ultima's Doorstep
Laurel MD (SPX) Dec 28, 2018
The New Horizons spacecraft is healthy and on final approach to the first close-up exploration of a Kuiper Belt object in history, and the farthest exploration of any world, ever. In just a few days, on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, New Horizons will swoop three times closer to our target-2014 MU69 (nicknamed Ultima Thule)-than we flew past Pluto. The anticipation is palpable now: we are on the verge of an important scientific exploration almost 20 years in the making and, in many ways, unlik ... read more